Tiger's Fall
by Ray Venn Hakubi
Summary: A Dark Heavens fanfiction. "That bastard's mine - he broke into my stables in Ireland, raped two of my women and killed all my horses!" - but what actually happened that day? And what twisted events led up to that fateful attack?
1. Chapter 1

Dark Heavens is the property of Kylie Chan, the world used here without permission for non-profit purposes. This is a work of fanfiction only. Please comment and criticise.

CHAPTER ONE

"Look, Kincaid, your dad's good – but that doesn't mean I'm going to jump him as soon as he gets here. You should know me better than that." I growled at the blonde on the other side of my desk.

"I know you well enough, Maira." Kincaid replied, irritated. The twenty-something half-Chinese man didn't believe me for a minute, I knew. He reeked of disbelief.

Maybe I should back up for a moment. My name is Maira Killarney, and I'm a Retainer to Bai Hu, the White Tiger God, the West Wind. He wants me to be more, but even if my spiritual nature didn't make it an impossibility there was no way I would get involved with someone who spent most of his time in a form that holds no interest for me.

"Then you should know that unless he decides he wants me when he visits, he'll have about as much effect on me as you do, five five eight." I told him, leaning back in my chair with a sigh. Kincaid was one of my master slash suitor's sons. I didn't think the Tiger actually knew his name, but he was the head groom here at the Tralee stables.

"I have no reason to believe that. He seduced you before. Look, just don't make things... complicated, okay?" He sighed. "The last thing I want is to have the pecking order disturbed, and Kate's been getting restless."

"He tried and failed." I reminded him. "I won't go out of my way unless he starts trying it for real. I think he's forgotten me, though - last I heard he was aiming for some Australian girl the Dark Lord employed. You know what he's like when he's trying to get a new girl in."

"Just be careful." Kincaid finished, forcefully, before turning and storming out. Emotions burn hotly amongst the Irish, and I knew that he'd be angry for a while now. Kincaid had never liked the fact that his mother, the most senior of Bai Hu's women in Ireland, was sometimes ignored in favour of the Tiger's continued attempts to ensure that I joined his wives. It wasn't just that he thought his mother, Ashley, should be the Tiger's first call when he arrived, but also because I wasn't human, let alone Immortal or Shen.

About sixty years ago, the King of the Demons' thirtieth son had decided to try interbreeding eastern spirits with western creatures. My mother had been a captive kitsune, or Japanese fox spirit he'd been saving for a special occasion, while my father was a grig, a kind of Celtic faerie known for their musical glamour. That made me technically a demon, though perhaps it was the nature of a kitsune, or something to do with the often sexual nature of the fey, but where previous attempts had led to brittle freaks who were easy to destroy but had strange powers, the hell-spurred union of my parents had led to a creature who had some of the best aspects of both races. I wasn't going to be hurling foxfire around or controlling humans with a fiddle any time soon, but as long as I didn't have any unfortunate accidents with hawthorn or iron, I was never going to look older than mid-twenties in this form, I could take the shape of pretty much any animal I could learn enough about, as well as my current human form and my natural one, and I _was_ an unnaturally good musician.

Putting Kincaid's visit out of my mind, I turned back to what I had been doing. Bai Hu had assured me that his women never had to work, but I'd discovered my refuge long before swearing in as his Retainer, and now I needed the refuge of numbers more than ever. Running the accounts for the stable and riding club was a safe way of indulging myself without anyone getting bent out of shape about my conduct amongst humans. I'd barely been able to read three lines before the air became energised in the way that only the presence of a powerful yang creature can effect. The Tiger had arrived.

A few moments later, the door to my office burst open so hard it banged against the wall, bouncing to swing back slowly as it quivered. The man who entered was only average height, but powerfully built and with the most amazing thick, white hair. Despite the hair, he looked to be in the prime of his life.

"Maira! You look healthy. How have you been?" He asked, jovially, almost stalking across the room to come round the table and attempt to kiss me. I avoided it with a subtle glare.

"Well enough, my Lord." I replied. "Please don't try that again, you know how I feel about that form."

"Of course, of course." He grinned, stepping back. "I would change, for you, but I have to meet with someone soon, and I would hate to rush things." He turned to sit in my chair, and I moved back around with a small sigh. He must have heard it, but he made no comment, instead reading the documents I'd been working on.

"Still balancing books, love?" He asked, glancing up at me.

"Always." It was impossible to dislike Bai Hu, or Tiger White as his British passport claimed. He was an incorrigible flirt, a womanizer and rude, but he could also be gentle and caring... in a predatory kind of way. "With the amounts of cash flowing through this establishment, it's a full-time job."

"You should employ someone to do it. It's not fitting for one of my women to belittle herself with work." He told me, looking me straight in the eyes. I felt a slight flush rising, and squashed it.

"I am not one of your wives, Tiger, and Celestial willing I never will be." I reminded him. I wasn't going to bring up the two wives he kept here's dislike of me now – it would only serve to cause trouble.

"Pah. There's nothing stopping you joining my harem any time you want." He grumbled, turning back to the books and frowning slightly.

"I am a tame demon, Bai Hu." I reminded him, patiently. "I cannot even marry a human, let alone a Shen, let alone the West Wind." Even if I wanted to. I'd tried explaining that, though, and it had gone straight over his head. It seemed inconceivable to him that any woman wouldn't be interested in him, even if they would demand he change sex first. Not that he had any problem with using a female form to seduce a girl he wanted, but it hadn't fooled me. Even with breasts, the White Tiger was still very, very male.

"Pfft." Was the only response my Lord had to that. I sighed and started clearing up.

"Oh. By the way, Maira." He spoke, and I looked at him, waiting. "I'm meeting with the Frenchwoman in about ten minutes."

"As you say, sir." I sighed. "Feel free to use my office. I'll make myself scarce."

"Don't go far. I might need you." He told me, and I nodded. It was a clear dismissal, so I stepped outside and went for a walk.

It was only three days after that when Simon Wong first appeared. He walked into the courtyard and started asking about horse hire and lessons. If Kincaid, Patrick or Andrew had been the one working Casey that morning, I hesitate to think what would have happened, but it was Sarah, a human girl from the city who didn't know about Shen, or demons or the Celestial who he spoke to. I'd only accepted her help warily – she almost seemed to be too good to be true, offering to help muck out and work the horses during the week in exchange for riding lessons, but so far she seemed to be completely genuine. I arrived in time to see Wong leaving, and he was gone too quickly for me to understand his true nature at that time.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

"Have you got a minute, Sarah?" I asked from the doorway as the young redhead latched Whispers' stall two days later.

"Ah, give me a moment." She called back, making sure the latch was secure and grabbing her backpack before heading over. "What is it you need, miss Killarney?"

"Come into my office, it's one of those talks, I'm afraid." I gave her a smile that was supposed to be comforting, but I must have done something wrong since she looked nervous anyway. Once we were seated, I gave her another reassuring smile.

"I noticed that you've been here every day this week. It's a Friday, I thought you had work?"

"Ah, no, miss Killarney." She shook her head, tugging at her forelock where it had come out of her ponytail. "I'm a student, it's the end of the academic year." She gave me a slightly rueful smile.

"I suppose that makes sense." I nodded, deciding to put off my question. "What are you studying?"

"Photography." She replied, with a slightly clipped tone.

"Is there a problem?" I asked, frowning slightly. "I don't think I said anything to warrant that kind of hostility."

"Ah, no, no, you didn't." She waved her hands defensively. "I just... people round here don't consider taking pictures of animals proper work, miss Killarney, that's all."

"I think it's a wonderful thing to spend your time on." I told her, smiling slightly again. "But to make sure you spend as much time appreciating animals with your mind rather than just your viewfinder, how do you feel about working here part-time, properly, full time over the summer? Five fifty an hour isn't bad, and it's obvious how much you love the horses."

"Ah..." She started, but stopped, thinking about it. "I'll have to talk to my folks about staying on here. I'm not paid up in halls over the summer, I'd need to find a place to stay."

"I see." I thought about it for a moment, then grinned. "There's space here, upstairs. We make enough money that I can get away with charging you a few quid a week."

"I wouldn't want to impose... let me look around for other options first, talk to my parents. They'll want me to visit some time though." Something in her voice made me look closer, and from the way her scent changed I realised that she hated the thought of going home for the summer.

"Of course. I don't want you to feel like I'm trying to keep you here against your will!" I told her with a slight chuckle. "Let me find you a contract to read." I told her, standing up and moving over to the filing cabinets, rifling through them until I found what I was looking for. I took a moment longer to check, keeping my back to her so she could think without feeling like she was under pressure. "Here." I turned and put it on the table in front of her. "You're a good groom, and I'd like to see you working here. It always made me a little uncomfortable that you did the work without being paid."

"If I can ask, miss Killarney..." She hesitated, and I nodded for her to go on. "What are you paying Kinny and the others?"

"They're... complicated." I temporised. "You know how they're half-brothers?" She nodded, so I continued. "Their father owns the Stable here outright. The other two women – Kate, the manager, and Ash, the receptionist – are their mothers. Officially, they're on six pounds an hour, but really if you take into account the fact they don't pay for room or board, and get pocket money from their father their income is actually a lot higher than it appears."

"So Kate is the owner's ex-wife?" Sarah asked, slightly surprised. "Whose she married to now?"

"Still Mr. White." I smiled a little at her reaction. "You know that he's a very rich man. He's actually an Arab Sheik. He lives... somewhere in the middle east. I never asked where exactly. Kate is the senior wife in Europe, so she rules the roost here."

"Senior..?" She blinked at me. "How many wives does Mr. White have?"

"I'm not sure. More than twenty." I told her. It wasn't quite a lie – the last time I'd had an accurate count, it had been one hundred and sixteen, but that had been four years ago. "Most of them stay with him in his main palace."

"You're not his wife, are you?" She asked, after taking a few moments to digest that, before glancing at my hand. I held it up to show her my ring finger.

"Nope. Even if I was willing to be one in twenty, there are other reasons I'm just not interested."

"Still..." She murmured, smiling slightly. "If he's a king, that explains why you call him 'my Lord' all the time..." She looked down at her hands. "I'll talk to my parents, but I think I might like working here over the summer." She looked up at me. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. It'll be nice having another single girl around for a change." I grinned at her. She was a little too young for me, but I meant it – even friendly company was sometimes hard to come by when everyone either outranks you or is in that limbo where they're not sure if you work for them or they work for you.

"Oh!" She blinks. "Actually, I think seeing someone at the moment... but I don't think Si will complain that I'm sticking around for the summer!"

"Si?" I asked, tilting my head curiously.

"Ah, Simon... he came by the day before yesterday, asking about hire. I told him that he should speak to Ashley, but he just smiled and left... after asking if I wanted to go to the cinema on... ack, tonight." She ducked her head, glancing at her watch.

"Ah, I see. You'll have to give me details." I told her with a light smile. "I haven't had a chance to gossip in years."

"Sure, I'd like that..." She nodded. "If that's all, though, I've got a bus to catch if I'm gonna get back into town before midnight."

"Go, catch your bus, enjoy your night out." I waved her away with a smile, and she nodded before hurrying out, slinging her bag on her back. Watching her go, I couldn't help but laugh at myself. She was only twenty, and I'd had to catch myself before I started putting the moves on her myself. Maybe in ten years, I told myself. If she was still here, anyway. I hoped she would be. She _was_ very good with the horses.

It turned out that I didn't see her again until Monday, which was strange. She normally came in on a Saturday. I figured she'd probably ended up spending the night at Simon's. She was chatting to a male – Simon, I assumed – as I approached, but he saw me coming and was gone by the time I got there.

"That him?" I asked, nodding in the direction he'd gone in – back towards the main road.

"Si? Yeah." She nodded. "He's half Chinese. He seems really scared of you, though, refused outright to stay."

"Yeah, well, he probably thinks he'll get you in trouble." I chuckled. "So, how was your date?" I asked as we headed towards the stable itself. It was set well back from the road, with an old brick farmhouse that served as our office building forming one side of a cobbled courtyard, while the stalls themselves made up the other two sides and the third was open.

"We had fun." She grinned. "The movie was pretty crap, but we went to the pub after. Turns out he's a real lightweight, started talking about gods and demons and stuff."

"Well, if there's two things I've learned, its that Asians can't hold their drink and that gods and demons are often closer than you think." I told her, smiling at the irony. I'm allowed to make Asian cracks, I'm half myself. Kind of. "What kinds of things?"

"Just that I should be careful, 'cause they could be anyone, even my boss." She grinned. "I really like him – he seems to care about my work a lot, too. For the uni, and here. Asked loads of questions." That finally set alarm bells ringing in my head. I might be an accountant by calling, but I'm also in charge of security for the stable, and that was something the Tiger _had_ asked me to do.

"What kind of questions?" I asked, carefully, and she seemed to pick up on the mood.

"Nothing creepy." She hurried to reassure me. "Just what my boss was like, how I got on with my co-workers, how many horses are here. Normal stuff."

"I see. Alright, then." I accepted it for now, but I determined that I was going to get a good look at Simon Wong next time he showed up.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

As it turned out, I didn't see Wong again until two weeks later. Sarah had moved into the flat above the offices and was working full-time in the stables, going into town often enough in her evenings that it was obvious she was still seeing him. He hadn't come near the stables since questioning her, and I was starting to suspect why.

Sarah knocked at my office door, and I called her in by name. She came in and sat down on the other side of the desk with a small grin on her face.

"One of these days I'll work out how you do that." She chuckled, and I grinned back.

"Magic. I was a teacher in a past life." I told her, putting my pen down. "What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to join us down the pub tonight. Simon's bringing a couple of his friends along, and I don't know if I feel quite comfortable hanging out with so many people on my own, so to say." She told me, and I raised my eyebrow.

"And you're asking me? I'm flattered, but don't you have some friends your own age who could back you up?" I asked, getting something of a bad feeling.

"They've mostly gone home for the summer, and Grace and Chloe are working tonight – that's the girls from the city." She shrugged, smiling. "That and I know you've been looking for an excuse to meet Simon."

"How did you..? No, never mind." I frowned slightly. I had been asking her about him, after all. "Does he know you're asking me?"

"Actually, he suggested it himself, why don't I bring someone from work along." She told me, setting off alarm bells. If Wong was what I thought he was, he probably knew who ran the stable.

"It's a good job you asked me, then. Kincaid and the others'd just join the lads, and Kate and Ashley are both teetotal." I grinned, hiding the lie expertly. The Tiger's sons would recognise demons instantly and cause a scene, and the women would be completely useless and were probably what Wong was after.

If he was a demon.

"Yeah, I figured you'd be more likely to come." She nodded. "No offense to your boss's wives, but they don't seem like they'd be much fun in the face of male." She said it with such distaste that I wondered what exactly her opinion of them was.

"You don't like them?" I asked, curiously.

"They just seem a bit... I don't know. Eager." She replied, and I chuckled.

"Their man is enough for them, if that's what you're worried about. They say that once you've had with the Tiger, no other man can ever compare." Though mostly, I admitted to myself, that in this case 'they' was Bai Hu himself. His wives never talked about their sex life, at least not with me. "Even though they only see him every six weeks or so." I chuckled, though Sarah looked horrified.

"Every six weeks? No wonder they're so bad-tempered most of the time!"

"Actually, I think that might be my fault..." I admitted. "They were worried that the boss might take a liking to you if he found you working here full-time, so I told them there was no way it was going to be an issue... I think they might have taken it the wrong way."

"They think I'm gay?" She blinked. "That explains it then. Thanks a lot!" She huffed, indignantly, but didn't get up. "I'll have you know I'm a good Catholic girl." Which made me grin. "What?" She asked, taken aback. "Did I say something funny?"

"No, no." I waved it away. "Nothing. So what time were you planning on heading down there?"

"Sixish. I'll give you a lift if you want to come." She held up her keys, and I grinned.

"Oh, now you've definitely got me." I chuckled. "On the condition that I drive us back."

"Naturally. I plan on getting drunk." She told me. "But if you even scratch the paint..."

"Sarah, you drive a tank, if I scratch the paint it means I probably took us off a cliff somewhere." I told her, and her eyes danced with amusement.

"Oh, hush. It's not that big." She rolled her eyes, standing. "Anyway, I'd better get sorted, it's only an hour away." I nodded, absently, looking back at my work.

"I'll be ready. Meet you at the gate." I told her, and she let herself out. Suddenly, the solution to my problem presented itself, and I let out a whoop of triumph.


End file.
